Addressing Highly Hazardous Pesticides in Mozambique
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República de Moçambique Ministério da Agricultura e Segurança Alimentar Direcção Nacional de Agricultura e Silvicultura Addressing Highly Hazardous Pesticides in Mozambique Addressing Highly Hazardous Pesticides in Mozambique Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2016 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. 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FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. ii On August 26, 2014, the Government of Mozambique cancelled the registrations of 61 pesticide products containing 31 different active ingredi - ents. The Government also announced risk reduction measures for another 52 pesticide products. This concluded a 2-year FAO project to identify the Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) authorized for use in Mozambique and develop a risk reduction plan. The project was prompted by the Government’s concern about the use of hazardous pesticides and its desire to promote sustainable intensification of agricultural production. The project was also intended to serve as a pilot for other countries and for future FAO guidelines. The project was supported by the Mozambican Ministries of Agriculture and En - vironment 1 and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) under the Quick Start Programme. It included numerous interviews with farmers and consultations with representatives of commodity companies, the agro-chemical industry, and civil society. The good cooperation with these stake - holders and their support for the project were central to its success. This brochure describes the process that was followed in Mozambique and the positive results of the project these results extended beyond phasing out the use of HHPs to enhancing the engagement of stakeholders in sound pesticide man - agement in the country. 1 In 2015 Ministries were renamed Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and Ministry of Land, En - vironment and Rural Development. 1 Acknowledgements The excellent collaboration between the Government of Mozam - bique and FAO was at the core of the success of this project in reducing risks posed by highly hazardous pesticides in Mozambique, in favor of an ecosystem- based approach to pest and pesticide management. We would like to thank Armando Marcos Come and Anastasio Luis at the Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and Samson Cuamba at the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development for their contributions to crucial steps of the process. We are very grateful to Camarada Castro, Rep - resentative of FAO Mozambique for his support throughout the entire project. We would like to give a special thank you to Khalid Cassam, who coordinated the project in Mozambique and without whom none of this would have been pos - sible. We are equally grateful to the full FAO Mozambique team including Mar - garida Marquez, Carla Cuambe and Silvia Cuambe for their assistance. This brochure was prepared by Francesca Mancini, Harold Van Der Valk and Livia Loy Donà from the Pest and Pesticide Management Team in the Plant Protection Di - vision of the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department of FAO Rome. We would also like to thank Mark Davis, Yong Zhen Yang and Harry Van Der valu - able for their valuable guidance during the project and the drafting of this docu - ment. Finally we warmly thank Jeannie Richards for her review and thorough editing. 2 Addressing highly hazardous pesticides in Mozambique Among all pesticide products on the market, a relatively small number have a high potential to severely harm human health and/or the environ - ment. These products can pose unacceptable adverse effects. Especially in de - veloping countries and economies in transition, where proper risk mitigation measures may not be in place, The FAO/WHO International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management defines highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) as those pesticides that are “acknowledged to present particularly high levels of acute or chronic hazards to health and/or the environment according to internationally accepted classification sys - tems such as the World Health Organization (WHO) or the Global Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) or their listing in rel - evant binding international agreements and conventions. In addition, pesticides that appear to cause severe or irreversible harm to health or the environment under conditions of use in a country may be considered to be and treated as highly hazardous”. This project served to develop a methodology to identify HHPs in a country and to develop a risk mitigation plan in consultation with the main stakeholders. The project served by a team that included the former national pesticide regis - trar, the head of the Quarantine Department, and three international pesticide management experts. The methodology developed by the team focused on identifying HHPs used in the country, assessing their risks, and developing a risk reduction plan. 3 The project had 7 steps Review of registered pesticides 5 1 to identify HHPs Review of pesticide import trends 8 2 as a proxy for pesticide use Field surveys of pesticide use 10 3 in key crops Assessment of 14 4 pesticide user risks Assessment of 16 5 environmental hazard Consultation with stakeholders 18 6 and capacity building Cancellation of HHPs 20 7 and other risk reduction measures 4 1 Review of 2 registered pesticides to identify HHPs The project began by screening the pesticide products regis - tered in Mozambique to create a shortlist of highly hazardous pesticides for re - view. The register included 648 products comprising 192 different active ingredients. The review was done by evaluating the pesticides against the eight criteria for HHPs developed by the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Management (JMPM). The project team reviewed the dossiers for the pesticides that had been evaluated during their registration in Mozambique as well as two pesticide prod - ucts (containing DDT and methyl-bromide) that were no longer registered but whose stocks were allowed to be used. In addition, the team considered assess - ments done by WHO, FAO, the European Union, and the U.S. Environmental Pro - tection Agency, and decisions taken under international conventions. Ultimately, the team identified 59 pesticide products comprising 26 different active ingredi - ents as HHPs on the basis of the JMPM criteria. 5 The JMPM criteria for highly hazardous pesticides Criteria 1 Pesticide formulations that meet the criteria of classes Ia or Ib of the WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard Criteria 2 Pesticide active ingredients and their formulations that meet the criteria of carcinogenicity Categories 1A and 1B of the Globally Harmonized System on Classifica - tion and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) Criteria 3 Pesticide active ingredients and their formulations that meet the criteria of mutagenicity Categories 1A and 1B of the GHS Criteria 4 Pesticide active ingredients and their formulations that meet the criteria of reproductive toxicity Cate - gories 1A and 1B of the GHS Criteria 5 Pesticide active ingredients listed by the Stockholm Convention in its Annexes A and B, and those meeting all the criteria in paragraph 1 of annex D of the Con - vention Criteria 6 Pesticide active ingredients and formulations listed by the Rotterdam Convention in its Annex III Criteria 7 Pesticides listed under the Montreal Protocol Criteria 8 Pesticide active ingredients and formulations that have shown a high incidence of severe or irreversible ad - verse effects on human health or the environment If one or more of the criteria are met, a pesticide is identified as highly hazardous. 6 An additional 54 pesticide products containing 16 different active ingredients were also considered to have a high hazard for human health in Mozambique although they were not triggered by the JMPM criteria. These were identified on the basis of provisions included in the national pesticide legislation and included: • Pesticides that fell into the more toxic range of Class II of the WHO Recommended Classification